Norwegian Avantgarde Metallers Borknagar have unveiled the front cover artwork for their much anticipated new studio album, 'Urd', to be released on March 26th, 2012 in Europe as well as March 27th, 2012 in North America via Century Media Records.

The album's artwork was designed by Brazilian artist Marcelo Vasco (www.P2RDESIGN.com), who has not only already worked on the band's previous 'Universal' release but also with artists such as Soulfly, Belphegor, Einherjer or Keep of Kalessin. See the new album artwork above...

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Borknagar's mastermind Øystein G. Brun comments on the artwork as follows: "The cover and design for 'Urd' is spot on when it comes to portraying the very core of the band.

"This time around we wanted an earthly expression through our cover and general design to support and empower the main themes on the album. You can almost smell and feel the texture of the old Norse wooden carvings - still there is a sophisticated and eclectic approach to the expression that entwines perfectly into the music.

"Marcelo Vasco enhanced our ideas into brilliance, he painted the face of the beast that is about to be unleashed..."

Borknagar have recently finalized mixing duties for the album with Jens Bogren at Sweden's Fascination Street Studios (Opeth, Paradise Lost, Katatonia, etc.). The tracklisting for the album will read as follows:

The band previously explained the album title and its overall concept as follows: "Our previous album was called 'Universal' and where should we go after an album title with such a magnitude? Well, we decided to head back home to earth.

"We really wanted to get back to the core of the band, where it all started - the admiration and pondering about nature and mankind's place therein. 'Urd' is the name of one of the norns that according to northern mythology stands under Yggdrasill and weaves the lifeline of mankind. 'Urd' is representing the past, while 'Verdande' is representing the present and 'Skuld' is representing the future.

"You might very well say that this is an ancient expression of what we today know as DNA. And I have always been very fascinated by the fact that parts and bits of our DNA actually derive from the very beginning of time. All living creatures are somewhat connected to the very first organic cell. That is some of the story behind the album title.